Journal Entry 1 by KathleenMolloy on Sunday, July 06, 2008

Launching Canadian
Authors into the Wild ! 

Journal Entry 2 by KathleenMolloy on Wednesday, July 09, 2008

The fourth west Quebec author I read for the 2nd Canadian Book Challenge was James Stark with his 1993 The Lidek Revolution.
I am always attracted to political thrillers but frequently disappointed by them. I was not disappointed with this one. It was neat to read the protagonist zipping around in a Blue Line taxi, schmoozing with the rich folk in Rockcliff, and cottaging with investors on Meech Lake. Neat.
But let me tell you why I am usually disappointed about the typical political thriller tale. The standard formula generally seems, well, formulaic. Nevertheless, for me they are a guilty pleasure and I gobble them up as soon as my beau is done with them. Politically thrillers are perfectly good for heavy-duty flues when the body complains too much to get up to go to the library. Yet the Ludlums of the world all share the same plot and that works only if you love the standard plot.
In my mind the plot pretty much goes like this: recently retired (but physically fit and undeniably handsome) male American agent gets drawn back into the game to save the world (or his country, or his agency, or some small unfortunate/unorganized/undemocratic/ country from imploding. He gets teamed up with a thirty-something female agent with legs up to here who downplays her looks because she wants to be taken seriously. They can’t trust each other immediately because of their indisputable physical attraction but readers know they would lay their lives on the line for each other while they tumble into bed during their hunt for terrorists/rogue agents/bad guys with obvious markings. The good guys win.
In the July - August copy of Canadian Dimension, John Saul offers a great summary of some of the renowned political thrillers that don’t follow the standard formula. Admittedly, the titles he mentions lean a little left where the plot puts not the good guy but the mediocre guy in the face of danger as he helps save (but doesn’t singlehandedly save) the town’s water supply, or helps with some sort of greater good mission. The point is that the good guy doesn’t always win and when he does, what he wins is worth winning (such as finding humility or faith, uncorrupting corrupt police forces and government agencies, and perhaps even protecting clean drinking water…).
Imagine my delight to have found The Lidek Revolution at a bookstore last week – a political thriller about the Cold War written by a west Quebecer. Is it left leaning? I don’t know. The author is founder of a Canadian nuclear disarmament organization called Operation Dismantle. I don’t know what his political leanings are but I suspect he is a fan of clean drinking water.
And his protagonist Victor Helliwell isn’t a hunky über-agent but a bit of a hermit. He isn’t planning to use his Lidek device to detect when folks are lying so that he can uncorrupt corrupted government agencies; he wants to get rich. And there is no indication that 3o-something-year-olds with legs up to here fall on their backs when he enters a room. Victor is a Canuk schmuck that gets twisted up with lying politicians et al. How does he get by? How do any of us get by?
 

Journal Entry 3 by KathleenMolloy at River Echo Language School in Wakefield, Québec Canada on Wednesday, July 09, 2008

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Journal Entry 4 by KathleenMolloy at River Echo Language School in Wakefield, Québec Canada on Friday, July 11, 2008

Released 3 yrs ago (7/11/2008 UTC) at River Echo Language School in Wakefield, Québec Canada

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another west quebec author launched into the wild via River Echo